This Urban Farmer Wants to Help You Grow Your Own Food
L.Be Sholar hopes to lead a food sovereignty movement with her mobile gardens.
For L.Be Sholar, the experience of watching her own seeds grow into something she could eat changed her life.
Sholar lived among the hustle and bustle of New York City for more than a decade, working steps away from Fifth Avenue in Manhattan as a sought-after make-up artist and hair stylist. But as someone who grew up in Kentucky visiting her family’s farm, she eventually started to crave a connection to something beyond her concrete surroundings.
“People in the city were very, very disconnected, especially where I was working; they were quite neurotic because they weren’t grounded,” she says.
In 2015, Sholar decided to move back to Kentucky to work for her family’s soil technology company, OrganiLock. At first, she split her time between Kentucky and the tri-state area so that she could continue to meet with cosmetology clients, but she has since moved to New Jersey full time.
While she worked at OrganiLock, she helped to develop reusable organic soil, and she started to experiment with how to grow her own food in it. Once Sholar started growing plants, she couldn’t stop. She found the experience completely engaging, and she grew around 300 different plant varieties in her first year alone. “I knew if this could make me feel how I was feeling, it could help other people,“ she says.
Feeling inspired, Sholar launched a business called Farm-Based Foodie in 2018, to help others grow their own food. The company carries a line of mobile, compact “pop-up” gardens. She sells these little patches of dirt online, starting at $99, complete with seeds, instructions for plant care and cards with farm-to-table recipes. Extension gardens are also available, along with trellises for tomato growing.
Sholar says her mobile gardens make gardening accessible and are environmentally friendly, as they are free of single-use plastics. Each kit is equipped with reusable carbon-negative soil (from her family’s soil business), which lasts five to 10 years. She claims this soil sequesters carbon more than traditional potting mixes or compost.
For those who might need some additional guidance to get started, Sholar offers gardening lessons and a four-week course about incorporating plants into your life. Her business even got the attention of actress Whoopi Goldberg, who employs Sholar as a gardener at her New Jersey home. The two are neighbours.
While Sholar’s mobile gardens give urban greenthumbs the chance to grow their own food, she says those living in more rural settings will also likely find uses for them. She hopes those who use the mobile gardens will become independent through the act of growing their own food.
Wow, this is very cool! Ignore the haters. There are always small-minded people who seize on any small fact and ignore the greater good being done here. She’s changing the world for the better and reconnecting people with the cycles of nature. Inspirational!
People can spend money on whatever they want. Not trying to sound like a naysayer but if folks have an extra 100 to spend, I hope they spend it on local food. Having been involved in my regions local food movement, it didn’t ceasebti surprise me that folks would have money for all sorts of gadgets and the latest toys but kvech about the local farms charging a bit more than big box stores. I hope we can change people’s mindset about what has value and what doesn’t. Gardening for a day or part of a season is easy…farming for… Read more »
Hi so much talent does not need to show skin, Sexy is a pregnant pig, or a lush beet. As a woman looking for info I am sort of put off. I am not buying a car, sorry even car sales have stopped using sex to sell their cars. I usually do not bash other women especially talented ones. Just seems out of place for me.
$99 seems like some big time NYC money for such a little bit of grow room offered. Very impractical for the general public. It doesn’t seem very newsworthy.
I agree with Greenfire Farms- people are missing the point. Eating healthy food and more people growing their own food – how is that a bad thing?
DO YOU MOW A LAWN ? PUT THE GRASS CLIPPINGS INTO A PLASTIC BUCKETT … SET A LID ON TOP … REPEAT UNTILL YOUR BUCKETT ( S ) IS ( ARE ) FULL-ISH … NOW PLANT A POTATOE. OR AN ONION OR A CARROTT… OR ALL 3….. POKE A HOLE IN THE BOTTOM AND SET THE BUCKETT IN/ON THE LID…. WATER ONCE IN A WHILE… ADD GRASS TO THE TOP… ENJOY THE GREENERY AND THE FOOD IN A FEW MONTHS… NO SEEDS NEEDED…. CUT TOPS OFF AND SET IN WATER FOR A FEW WEEKS UNTILL ROOTS SPROUT… CHECK OUT THE… Read more »
PS::: NO DIRT NEEDED EITHER.
You can’t grow more food for more people, but you can grow food for yourself.
In fact, by growing your own food, you’ll be helping create and maintain a sustainable community. That’s why it’s the most effective way to help the environment. And just like you’re creating a great, healthy diet, you’re also helping create a sustainable planet!
One of the best ways to improve your health is to grow your own food!
You can’t grow more food for more people, but you can grow food for yourself.
In fact, by growing your own food, you’ll be helping create and maintain a sustainable community. That’s why it’s the most effective way to help the environment